Health Inequity

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Differences in health and disease among various sections of populations, such as ethnic and

racial groups, have become a major issue of public health research, policy, and practice. Diet is a

major contributor to health issues in many chronic diseases and conditions. 7Food habits are

important to promote and maintain good health throughout life, whereas an unhealthy diet is a

modifiable and preventable risk factor.5 Therefore, to point out and eliminate health disparities. It

is important to know how different factors, diet and nutrition, convenience and access to food,

limited economic resources, low education, and unhealthy food choices lead to many chronic

diseases such as heart disease and are contributing factors. 5 The food environment in markets

restraint and signals consumers what to purchase it encompasses accessibility, affordability,

convenience, and desirability of various foods.1,2 The social-ecological model used by the USDA

places individual factors such as knowledge and taste within environmental settings (the Food

environment). Sectors including, agriculture, marketing, industry, and the government influence

the food environment and set within social and cultural norms and values. 2

Health inequities are systematic differences in the health status of different population

groups. 4 The two main clusters that are the root causes are the distribution of power and

resources differently across race, gender, and class lines. The second root cause is the unequal

allocation of power and resources including goods and services. 9

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Convenience and access play a major role in the food environment. There is not only a monetary

cost of obtaining food but also a time cost. One reason convenience is relevant in low-income

households is that women's time is highly constrained. Low-income women are not only income-

poor but also time-poor. 2 One of the reasons that fast and processed foods become highly

demanded in urban areas is because of convenience. As people spend more time working in labor

markets, they spend less time on food preparation.2 Another reason for food convenience is that

people do not have enough capacity in refrigerators to store food for longer periods of time.

Access is another factor that impacts an individual's food choice preferences. One of the U.S.

studies found that people with better access to supermarkets and limited access to convenience

stores tend to have healthier diets.1,3

Health is not evenly distributed across socioeconomic status. Persons of lower income,

education, or occupational status experience worst health and die earlier. Limited access to food

can cause food insecurity. 6 In 2020, 13.8 million households were food insecure during the year.

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According to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines of Americans, very few people consume a diet that

meets the recommendations. Education may influence food choices among different people. 3

Lack of nutrition knowledge may result in making bad food choices such as foods that are

high in sodium, saturated fats, and sugar can further lead to health disparities. In addition to

knowledge, several studies point to the effect of perceptions of time pressure or self-efficacy as

related to meal preparation, factors that are at least modifiable by nutrition education.1,5

Health disparities among adults are striking at a great rate. Compared with the persons that

have a high school or college education with the one that has low-education, life expectancies are

six years shorter. People with the low-socioeconomic status experience greater health outcomes.

They develop early hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.6

The Farmers Market Nutrition program is associated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition

Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC. Eligible WIC participants are

issued coupons for the eligible foods. Its purpose is to provide fresh, nutritious, unprepared, and

fresh fruits and vegetables to WIC participants to increase awareness and convenience for people

with low-income households. Nutritional education is provided to its participants by the state

agency, for example, cooperative extension programs, and other non-profit or for-profit

organizations. 10 These educational arrangements help to encourage FMNP recipients to improve

and expand their diets by adding fresh fruits and vegetables, including how to select, store and

prepare the fresh fruits and vegetables they buy with their FMNP coupons. Also, this program is

administered through Federal/state partnerships in which Food and Nutrition services provide

cash grants to state agencies. 10

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 Work Cited

1. Alkerwi A, Vernier C, Sauvageot N, Crichton GE, Elias MF. Demographic and

socioeconomic disparity in nutrition: Application of a novel correlated component

regression approach. BMJ Open. 2015;5(5). doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2014-006814

2. Herforth A, Ahmed S. The food environment, its effects on dietary consumption, and

potential for measurement within agriculture-nutrition interventions - food security.

SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12571-015-0455-8#cite.

Published May 7, 2015. Accessed November 11, 2022.

3. Home - books - NCBI. National Center for Biotechnology Information.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books. Accessed November 11, 2022.

4. Health inequities and their causes. World Health Organization.

https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/health-inequities-and-their-

causes. Accessed November 11, 2022.

5. Martinez-Lacoba R, Pardo-Garcia I, Amo-Saus E, Escribano-Sotos F. Socioeconomic,

demographic and lifestyle-related factors associated with unhealthy diet: A cross-

sectional study of university students - BMC public health. BioMed Central.

https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-018-6149-3.

Published November 7, 2018. Accessed November 11, 2022.

6. professor DFis associate. Health disparities based on socioeconomic inequities:... :

Academic medicine. LWW.

https://journals.lww.com/academicmedicine/fulltext/2004/12000/health_disparities_based

_on_socioeconomic.4.aspx#:~. Accessed November 11, 2022.

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 7. Satia JA. DIET-related disparities: Understanding the problem and accelerating solutions.

Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 2009;109(4):610-615.

doi:10.1016/j.jada.2008.12.019

8. Social Determinants of Health. Social Determinants of Health - Healthy People 2030.

https://health.gov/healthypeople/priority-areas/social-determinants-health. Accessed

November 11, 2022.

9. The root causes of health inequity - communities in action - NCBI bookshelf.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK425845/. Accessed November 11, 2022.

10. Wic Farmers' Market Nutrition Program. Food and Nutrition Service U.S. Department of

Agriculture. https://www.fns.usda.gov/fmnp/fact-sheet-2021. Accessed November 11,

2022.